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An extraordinary piece of video footage that surfaced on the Internet in the last 24 hours appears to show uniformed Syrian security forces loyal to the regime of President Bashar Assad and his family opening fire on protesters in the city of Hama on Friday.

At one point, even the amateur cameraman filming the scene with his cellphone camera comes under direct fire.

The video paints a picture of scenes of pandemonium on the streets of Hama, which was the site of a brutal 1982 massacre ordered by Assad's father, Hafez Assad.

Thousands, possibly tens of thousands, were killed in an attempt to quell an uprising against the Assads and instill fear in people living in what human rights activist then described as one of the most brutal and corrupt police states on the planet.

Still, the people of Hama have been taking to the streets, demanding the downfall of Assad's regime. Spokespeople for Assad claim that unidentified "armed groups"are responsible for the violence, a claim rebuffed by independent observers and flatly contradicted by video footage circulating online.